FG Con 13

Titans Grave – Ashes of Valkana

In June, Geek & Sundry launched the Titans Grave webisode series on Youtube starring Wil Wheaton, Hank Green, Alison Haislip, Yuri Lowenthal and Laura Bailey. Together with Chris Pramas of Green Ronin Publishing they created this role-playing game setting of science-fantasy for the AGE (Adventure Game Engine) system. The show has high production value and is really entertaining. Since then, the Fantasy AGE basic rulebook has come out and the Titans Grave: Ashes of Valkana adventure series debuted at GenCon Indy 2015. They are both available in pdf and print pre-order at the moment.

Titans Grave – Ashes of Valkana is a science-fantasy setting that reminds me of Thundar the Barbarian and Final Fantasy VII. It follow the tropes of “tolkienesque” fantasy settings we all know but introduces elements of science; science augmented by magic. The world is beginning to rebuild itself after the Prophet Dhawan tried to eliminate science’s influence on magic but was defeated by a group of heroes. A thousand years later, a new group of heroes is entrusted with preserving that balance once more while they uncover ties they have to the heroes of the past.

The book isn’t a setting book per se. It’s an adventure series. It does include some rules for creating a saurian character, introduces blasters and new equipment, modifications to the classes, new focuses and talent though. It also has a small gazetteer of the few places the heroes are likely to visit during the campaign.

Even if you’ve watched the show you’ll find many new scenes that were either not filmed or edited out of the show because of time constraints. This is a titanesque accomplishment from many of the industry’s best as they were given little to no time to write this fantastic campaign. What you get is a very polished product beautifully illustrated with stunning artwork and crisp maps.